Page 68 of Sanctuary with a Dragon
Shay stepped back and sighed. “That could be it. But I might have a different explanation.” He glanced at the dragon again. “This dragon has been placed in between the dreamscape and the living world. On topof that, he’s been spelled to sleep for eternity—or until his body gives out.” His mouth tightened. “Which, if he doesn’t get help, will be soon.”
Everly covered her mouth, then lowered it again. “But that means I should be able to pull him out of the in-between, right? If he’s in the dreamscape at all, I should be able to reach him.”
“Hey,” I said, stepping a little closer even if I couldn’t touch her. “We’ll figure it out. It’ll be okay.”
She nodded, chewing her lip. “I hope so.”
Shay came back to us. “We can do both. Everly, I’ll boost your power with mine to move him fully into the living world. That’s where I need to heal him. It won’t do much good to try to repair him while he’s stuck halfway.”
Relief flickered through her eyes. “Okay. How do we do that?”
Shay finally turned and got a good look at me. His eyes widened. “Why are you Casper right now?”
“I’m not friendly,” I said, baring my teeth.
He huffed a laugh. “Noted. I’m going to ignore Casper Alaric for now.” Then, to Everly, “We might have to try a couple of things, but I’m fairly certain, between the two of us, we can get him out.”
“I’ll lend my help,” Elandor said, and began thrumming again. But this one was lower in pitch. The cavern again resonated with the sound. It took me a moment to realize thatIwas resonating with the sound. Wide eyed, I looked down at my hands as theyshifted back and forth between corporeal and non-corporeal.
I didn’t know you could do that,I sent Elandor telepathically.
There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me,he said with a mental sniff, and I grinned.It won’t shift you all the way corporeal. I don’t have that power,he warned, and I nodded, still looking at my fluctuating hands in awe. Dragon thrums were incredibly powerful. More powerful than I’d ever given them credit.
“Sorry, Alaric,” Shay said. “I’ve got to hold your mate’s hand.”
He at least looked apologetic about it, but I still ground my teeth. I was a little sensitive at the moment about other people getting to hold and touch my mate when I couldn’t.
I nodded reluctantly in understanding, and Shay grabbed Everly’s hand as they both stepped closer to the dragon. They spent a minute or so conferring in whispered conversation with one another, and then closed their eyes.
Shay didn’t use words of power. He was a mage, and mages didn’t use spells. I always thought of them as the brute force of the wizarding world with unrealistic amounts of power. They didn’t finesse. They bashed right through things. Well, most mages did. But Shay was different, and had been trained by his sweet mother, may she rest in peace. She’d been older when she’d adopted Shay, and she wasn’t a mage, shewas a witch with very little power. She didn’t use spells either—only a certain branch of wizards did, and it was mostly nonsense—but because she had so little power she’d learned to coax it better, to use finesse. Because of that, Shay, who had massive amounts of magic, was probably one of the most skilled mages in the world. It turned out, brute force didn’t always win the day. Skill, finesse,andbrute force did.
Still, I almost fell on my butt when power suddenly shot out of my best friend so blindingly bright and so powerfully that it temporarily blinded me. I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my face, little good it did me because my hands were see through.
I blinked several times, seeing spots for a moment, before I could make out anything that was happening. Only to witness Everly, as if she were tuned to Shay’s same frequency, also start glowing. It was like they were two excessively bright nightlights illuminating the dark. Rays of light and power danced from Shay’s hand and into the dragon, before they both reached out into open air, andyanked.The dragon jerked, his deep, sonorous breaths stuttering for a moment, before resuming again. His breathing evened, sounding like the waves of the sea crashing on the seashore, powerful and peaceful.
I hoped we were doing the right thing. We knew nothing about this dragon. If he’d been cursed or spelled because he’d been terrorizing a country? We’dhave to put him down again.I’dhave to put him down. Dragon or not, kin or not, I needed to protect my mate.
Shay and Everly slumped against each other, utterly exhausted from whatever magic they’d used. I moved to catch them, forgetting for a moment that I was useless. But it didn’t matter, because Elandor caught them with a foreleg, letting them lean against him until they regained their strength.
“That is one really old dragon,” Shay said faintly. There were no lights in the cavern but the lights from the cracks in the cavern letting it the sunlight from outside. That and my excellent shifter eyesight were enough to see that my best friend looked like he needed a three year nap. His skin was pasty, and he was slow blinking enough to make even me, a ghost, drowsy.
Everly nodded in complete agreement. “If him being old is tied to the level of difficulty moving him from one realm to another, then I’d say yes.” She put a shaking hand to her face. Her complexion was even more ashen than before, and I wasn’t the only one worried about her.
“Treasure,” Elandor said in concern, “come rest here for a moment. Let Shay finish and do what he needs to do.”
She nodded gamely and moved to rest against Elandor’s warmth and bulk, settling against him with a sigh.
I watched them, feeling like someone was taking an axe to my heart.
I had no frame of reference for what I was feeling. I’d never dated, never been interested in anyone other than my mate. Over the long stretch of my lifetime, Elandor and I had sent away many females hoping to pair with us, and we’d never felt like we were missing out on something.
We’d certainly never beenjealous.
Yet... I was. I fully knew it was absurd. Elandor was a part of me, and I part of him. It was only here in the dreamscape that we were separate. Well, and Everly could make him non corporeal in the living world, which was definitely new and strange for us.
We’d existed together, as one unit, always.
But now we were two.
